Deception comes in many ways. The St. Martinus university is a deception of a lifetime. Everything about this university is flawed.

I will start by saying that the students that left the university for Bonaire never wrote anything attacking John Sands, it is the semi-sloppy job of one of his colleagues the disgusting Dr. ****** who happens also to be an Island reject. This man spent a good part of his adult life fleeing one island from another because his thirst for blood never quenches. Apart from being a lousy teacher, this pervert criticizes everybody for being just exactly what he is. He also got kicked out of Saint James.

The university was a huge deception for us. We had a compulsive and chronic liar as president. This man is the most dehonest man of the Caribbean. His family is supposedly one of the richest in Curacao. Well they are involved in drug trafficking, money laundering and a whole lot of unpaid debts. Apart from his family's glorious business history, the president Mr. John ********* is a known liar and sweet talker. He sweet talked to the best professors of the Caribbean who used to work at St. Martinus and left because they were not getting their money. He is left with pure garbage, some non licenced MD's and some desperate Ph.D rejects.

The owner and president of the university keeps hopes alive with a yellow painted corridor. The "infrastructure" of this hollow university is the only thing this guy markets. He can't bring more than half a dozen blinded students to enroll. A lot of students have seen this tantram and have left.

We were promised a whole lot, a loan program, a place to live that would be provided, a suitable curriculum, a lot of major merger and investment deals for the university that were just bait to keep the hopes up.

Everything was a lie. The official Dean of the university does not live on the Island he was actually kicked out by yours truly a couple of months ago after a bitter judicial battle over dues which involved the chancellor as well.
Almost the whole faculty has been appointed a Dean position. Maybe this is one of his ingenous strategies to keeping the faculty happy and make them forget that they are not getting paid.

In one big mess that is St. Martinus I do not wish anybody to endure such uncertainty and deshonesty... let the truth be told.

Hhhmmm…..is this true? can things in this University be as bad as it looks to us, the perspective students reading this (and the other title of “SMU…..DOA”), this looks really , really bad!!!.....

why is there no swift reply from the St’ Martinus officials? “fib fen”, “JO” or “Dr’ Hawkins”???

Anyone?

I am not a school administrator.
I am a student.
From the tone of the above email I would say that the person who wrote it has a personal motive and wishes to hurt people working at st. Martinus.
I hope whomever wrote that email never becomes a doctor.
And this is just a guess, but I have a feeling whoever wrote that email is a little upset because their plans to attend St. Martinus for free were foiled.
JO

I am student here at St.Martinus University.
I will say that everything said is personal comments made because the student failed St.Martinus and was thrown out because he didnt pay.
These comments are made out of frustration and some studnents leave one college thinking they will get degree easily and when they fail they leave and because they are unsuccesful they have to make these type of negative comments so they are happy for time being.
Any good student will never write these comments about the college which they have studies,but failures do write.
Many comments made are personal view and they are not true,if anybody want proof they should come to curacao to check so they are satisfied.

The question still remains, where are the "officials" of the University. Things like the doings and misdoings of a President(or owner) of the University can easily be checked in the local news of Curacao, and to the best of my knowledge what was written was not completely without bases, although I can't say how much of it is true, the "official" response is still giving the feeling of "deafening silence"... and that is not a good sign..... At least to me.

I didn't reply to this right away because I was away from the island for a few days. Quite frankly, it's very difficult to respond to such an emotional and hyperbolic outburst. Most of what the person writes is better left ignored.

It is unfortunate that things didn't work out at St. Martinus for some of the students who transferred over from Bonaire. There were four students who came over; two stayed and two went back. I don't claim to know all the reasons why. However, I do know that the situation for the two who returned to Bonaire were not identical in all aspects. One appears to have gone back primarily due to academic failure and the other went back primarily due to financial needs. I'll leave it to you to guess which one the author of this posting might be. But the issue is between those students and the executive administration; I am not able to address much of what was or was not promised to them. But I think one can reasonably assume that the fulfillment of any promises may have been conditional upon academic success.

Although we cannot know if this is true of all students from St. James, the four students who came over all found that they were required to work harder than they were accustomed to in order to meet our academic standards. I am confident the two students from Bonaire who are still here would attest to this.

Certainly, StMU has had some ups and downs in the first two years but the current situation is nowhere close to what is depicted in the current posting. We have a cadre of professors who are working very hard to provide a top quality program. We have good facilities (classrooms, labs, etc.) and our curriculum is similar any Caribbean or US medical school. We're not perfect and we don't pretend to be but we are confident we provide students with a solid, well-rounded medical education.

Our Executive Board is similarly committed to high academic standards. We would rather have fewer students by having high academic standards and a demanding program than having many students who are passed on through Basic Sciences regardless of actual success--only to run headlong into the brick wall of the USMLE. Our first four graduates are preparing to write the USMLE, so we will soon know if we are succeeding.

Quite logically, given that we have only 35 students (with 7 more coming in May), the small classes allow for more personalised attention. We realise that we are demanding a lot of our students and give them all the support we can. Some will pass, some will fail. We require that students who fail a course repeat it. Students who are in a rush to finish Basic Sciences without actually mastering the content of the courses find this objectionable. When students question the relevance of course content to the USMLE, one of our medical doctors is fond of telling the students that he is not only teaching them to pass an exam, he is training them to be doctors! An attitude we all heartily embrace.

Other points.

It is true that our Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Jack ********, has moved back to Saba to work part-time as one of the island doctors. However, he is still in good standing with StMU and he is still our Dean. We are in contact with him any time we need and he visits regularly. Not an ideal situation for sure but the best we can do for the time being. At the St Martinus campus, we have an Assistant Dean, Dr. Earley Elshot, who is working closely with Dr. ******** and doing an excellent job.

As a faculty, we get paid regularly, thank you very much.

We are not "pure garbage." Our faculty is hard working and dedicated to the students and the institution. We recognise the potential of what we can create here. It is true that some of the founding faculty left during a bumpy period in the early going but recently a couple of them have been back for visits and are reconnecting with the University. As to if and when they will return as faculty, I can't say but I doubt they would come back at all if things were as bad as portrayed in this and former anonymous rants against St. Martinus.

As for the rest of what this person says, it's all muck-raking and libel due to frustration and dissappointment. There is no evidence to support any of it. They should be ashamed.

I will end by saying that I sincerely wish one of our former students now back in Bonaire success in fulfilling his dream to become a medical doctor.

Yours truly,

__________________
Mark A. Hawkins, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Medical Ethics
St. Martinus University

For some reason, the name of our Dean of the Faculty of Medicine appears as asterisks in the posting. Not of my doing.

__________________
Mark A. Hawkins, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Medical Ethics
St. Martinus University

Everything about Mr Nostradamus is flawed, and a lot of us students at St Martinus were happy to see that Arizona offspring flea like a thief in the night after miserably failing his finals and skipping his make-ups and leaving unpaid bills…
He contacted some of us students here to boast that he got all A’s in St James for the courses he failed at St Martinus, and that as long as you paid your tuition and fees, you’ll be OK in SJMS.
We assume and hope that this is all untrue.
Let us be serious. Is this deceitful and cheap prose worthy of a future responsible MD?
His own deficiencies and inaptitude are used to insult faculty members who do their best to transmit us their knowledge. Why accuse the school’s president, on the base of alleged rumors, that were never nothing else than rumors? This is cheap, very cheap and is just the blabber of a lazy piece of garbage student, a never to be a doctor.
Everything is not perfect at St Martinus, but a lot of us believe we are getting a good education, and our grades reflect our own capabilities and hard work.
And yes, faculty members come and go, but is this not a common phenomenon in all Caribbean schools?
Some of us, who qualified, got loans or scholarships, others like Nostradamus’ husband did not qualify possibly because allegedly attempted fraud with transcripts…
As far as housing is concerned, we stay where we choose to stay, according to what our budget permits.
Before the Nostradamus and consorts even consider continuing frauding their way through Medical School, we recommend that they read Hippocrates Oath. It will make it clear to them that they’re in the wrong direction, and that maybe Circus School is for them the place to be.
By the way, Mrs. Nostradamus, dishonesty is hereby spelled correctly!
“The dogs are barking and the caravan pass by” (The Prophet Mohammed)

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears or smears wash out a Word of it

LOL

__________________
Bigger, stronger, higher, faster...I am my only master....even after I get what I'm after...Bigger, stronger, higher, faster....-Haziq

"Move forward and rise above......so you can settle into where you want to be......"